Vaporesso GTX Go 80 & Go 40: A Beginner Vape Pen in Two Sizes

Product intro and specs

The Vaporesso GTX Go 80 and GTX Go 40 are the newest vape pen AIOs by Vaporesso. The company has become quite popular for a series of great mods like the Gen S and Luxe, and some really good pod systems like the Luxe Q and PM40. The GTX Go kits are very similar pen-style vapes that come in different sizes—and different wattage limits and battery capacities as a result. Both devices come with pod tanks that use the GTX line of coils, which have been around for a while, and they are both designed for DL vaping. The kits come with one pod-style tank each, the 3.5 mL POD 22 on the Go 40 and the 5 mL POD 26 on the Go 80.

Vape pens were very popular up to a couple of years ago, but we haven’t seen many releases in this product category lately. Will Vaporesso bring them back into fashion with the GTX Go kits? Keep reading to find out.

Price: TBA

Colors: Rainbow, black, matte grey, red, blue.

Build quality and design

Let's start with the similarities between the two devices. Both are pen style kits, kind of a throwback to the older days. They’re built very well and feel durable but lightweight. Very simplistic design, with nice coloring and five color options.

Both devices feature a textured square fire button, and while the 40 had no rattle on the button if you shake it, the 80 had some minor rattle. Branding is the same on both, with a Vaporesso logo on the back and a smaller one on the front. Very lightly branded, which is nice. They come with one pod tank each (different diameter but same overall design) which attaches via magnets to the mod. You turn the whole tank to adjust the air, although both tanks are clearly made for DL vaping. Finally, both devices feature the same LED ring around the fire button to let you know the charge status.

The differences just come from the size. The Go 80 is larger at 26 mm x 133.2 mm and goes up to 80 watts, while the Go 40 measures 22 mm x 110.3 mm and goes up to 40 watts. As a result, their batteries come with different capacities, but I’ll get into it in the battery section. All in all, these are really basic durable pen kits with a classic look and plenty of color options.

Getting started

The Go kits are pretty typical pen systems that are simple to use. There is one button on them that does everything. You can click it five times to turn it on or off. There are no modes, features, adjustments, screens, etc. Just a simple one-button operation.

The two pod tanks are the GTX POD 26 and 22. They use plug-n-play coils from the GTX line, and they attach to the base via a proprietary magnetic connection, meaning the tanks can only be used with their respective devices. (The two tanks aren’t cross-compatible as they are different sizes). Only one pod tank is included in each kit, which is fine since it’s more of a tank than a pod. Airflow is adjustable by rotating the entire tank and lining it up with the air holes cut into the pen itself. Refilling the pod tank is easy. It doesn't have to be removed, but I found it easier to just remove it.

The top cap twists off and you can feel when it’s “locked” when you twist it back on. My only complaint in this is there isn’t a lot to grab on and the top cap is very slick so it’s hard to get a grip to twist it off, compared to recent refill methods on pods and tanks. Not a big deal, but worth noting as a con. Once off, you’ll see one large fill hole with a flapper, and you just insert your bottle tip and fill. Then twist the cap back on. The pod tanks are fully exposed, and while they are technically tinted it’s a very light tint. It’s easy to see your juice level at all times, so good job with that.

To remove the pod tank, just pull it out. It’s magnetic, but it fits in great with no wiggle or play and is easy to get in and out. Coil replacement is mostly easy as well. With the pod tank removed, just pull the coil out from the bottom and pop in a new one. Then put it back in and refill it. You do need to pretty much empty the pod before replacing the coil but if you do it sideways, a little juice can stay in there as well.

My only complaint, and something that I’ve been seeing on a lot of systems lately, is that the coils sit flush and can be hard to pop out by hand. Using a flathead screwdriver makes it much easier, and there is an indent to help. But still, I do wish these new systems would make it easier to pull out a coil. In fact, Vaporesso has already done it in the Swag PX80, where you could push down on the drip tip to eject the coil. It would have been nice to have that here as well. Overall, it’s still an easy-to-use pen system for beginners—as it should be.

Performance

The most important part of any pod device is going to be the coils. Lots of nice systems have been ruined by poor coils. Sadly, both systems only come with one coil each which I think is wrong—a spare coil should always be included in every kit. The Go 40 comes with the 0.6-ohm mesh coil rated for 20-30 watts, which is the same one I used in my PM40 review, while the Go 80 comes with the 0.2-ohm mesh coil rated for 45-60 watts. There are seven coil options that fit in this pod tank including an RBA deck. I wouldn’t bother with the 0.2-ohm one in the smaller Go 40 kit as its battery will drain pretty quickly and the device won’t go over 40 watts. All of the coils will work fine in the Go 80 kit.

I’ve used quite a few of these coils over time in previous Vaporesso devices, so I was pretty familiar with them going into it. When I used the 0.6-ohm coil with 70/30 3 mg juice in my PM40 review I found it best on the low end (at around 22 watts) and I got 28 mL of juice before it died. Flavor was solid for a 20-watt coil.

Using it in the Go 40 kit I opted to use it with 50/50 24 mg nic salt juices as it feels like it fires lower than 20 watts, and with the airflow as tight as I can get it—even though you can't MTL it. I feel like the 20-30 watt coils are in “no man's land” for me, a little high for MTL vaping but a little low for DL vaping. But that’s my personal preference. Anyway, the coil had good flavor for a 20-watt coil and it actually fared better on this device, lasting 50 mL. It seems to have better longevity with thinner juice—or it could just be coil consistency which is always a thing, despite Vaporesso coils being pretty consistent. Either way, really good coil life for a low-wattage coil.

The 0.2-ohm 45-60 watt coil on the Go 80 fared ok. I got 50 mL before it died, which is a little below average for this power range but not awful. Flavor was just ok. Overall, pretty standard for Vaporesso, with the higher power coils being average and the lower power ones being really good.

Battery life and charging

I found battery life to be pretty good for a small device with the Go 40 and the 0.6-ohm coil, and average for the Go 80 and the 0.2-ohm coil. Of course, you can use the higher-ohm coils in the Go 80 for more battery life. The Go 80 comes with an internal battery listed at 3000 mAh. They list the charge rate at 2A and it charges through a Type-C USB port positioned at the back.

I tested their claims and for the charge rate, I got max 1.87A which is good enough for a 2A rating, so no complaints there. Charge time is 1 hour and 25 mins, which is fine. For battery size however, I got a usable 2450 mAh. It’s not uncommon for companies to overrate battery sizes, to the point where I expect them to be overstated by 20% every time. This one is about that much overstated, but I’ll still ding them for that.

I do want to point out one thing as well to be fair to manufacturers. They could use a battery listed at 3000 mAh from a manufacturer, but those ratings could be slightly overstated. Then, on top of that, it matters when a device considers a battery dead, aka soft cell cut-off. A higher soft cell cut-off gives you less usable mAh as well. Those two factors combined are why you’ll often see overrated battery specs on internal battery devices, and in my experience, it’s typically around 15-20% overstated as we see here. I would have preferred to see a 2500 mAh rating on the Go 80.

The Go 40 comes with an internal battery listed at 1500 mAh. They list the charge rate at 1A and the port is Type-C on the back. I tested this and for the charge rate I got max 0.92A, good enough for a 1A rating. Charge time is 1 hour and 45 mins which is kinda slow but not that bad. For battery size however, I got a usable 1325 mAh (about 12% off). I won’t ding them for it though, as it’s close enough.

Both devices support passthrough vaping so you can vape while they are charging. Finally, the meter is an LED ring around the fire button which turns on only when firing the device. It’s green when high (70-100%) blue when medium (30-70%) and red when low (0-30%). I'd love to see companies add a fourth step and do it in blocks of 25% on devices like these, but the three-level battery indication is fairly common so that’s not a major con by any means.

Pros / Cons

Gallery

Verdict